ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 17-21 NOVEMBER
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Geneva in the late afternoon of Friday, 17 November, on the last leg of a four-nation visit that has taken him to Turkey, Kenya and Ethiopia.
On Saturday, the Secretary-General, accompanied by Nane Annan, travelled to St. Gallen, where he delivered a speech on biotechnology and human security when accepting the Max Schmidheiny Freedom Prize.
In the speech, he told the audience that he would like to explore a potential initiative that would focus in greater depth on two main questions: first, how to expand the benefits of biotechnology and life-science research to build better lives for people around the world; and second, how to develop a global framework to mitigate potential risks. (See Press Release SG/SM/10747.)
He also had a lively question-and-answer session with the students who attended the event at the St. Gallen University auditorium.
He directed the $100,000 prize to be given directly to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
While at St. Gallen University, the Secretary-General met with Klaus Leisinger, his Special Advisor on the Global Compact. He also issued a statement on Lebanon while in the north-eastern Swiss city. (See Press Release SG/SM/10746.)
On Sunday, back in Geneva, he met with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and with his Special Representative for Cyprus, Michael Møller.
On Monday, the Secretary-General inaugurated the new UNAIDS/World Health Organization (WHO) building. He also had an opportunity to meet with WHO’s new Director-General-elect, Margaret Chan. (See Press Release SG/SM/10749.)
He then delivered a statement at the opening of the sixth Review Conference of the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention.
He said that the Convention can no longer be viewed in isolation, as simply a treaty prohibiting States from obtaining biological weapons. Rather, we must look at it as part of an interlinked array of tools, designed to deal with an interlinked array of problems. While we must deal with disarmament and non-proliferation in the traditional sense, the Secretary-General told the delegates, we must also address terrorism and crime at the non-State and individual levels. And that means stitching these strands into a coherent strategy. (See Press Release SG/SM/10748.)
In recent months, the Secretary-General had raised the idea of a forum that would bring together the various stakeholders -- industry, science, public health, Governments and the public writ large -- in an effort to ensure that biotechnology's advances continue to be used for the benefit of humanity while the risks are managed.
Before bidding farewell to Geneva staff, he met with His Excellency Mehmet Ali Talat, Turkish Cypriot leader, and spoke to the press afterwards.
In the evening, he received the 2006 Prize of the Fondation pour Genève. (See Press Release SG/SM/10750.)
On Tuesday morning, prior to leaving Geneva, he held a wide-ranging farewell press conference at the Palais des Nations. (See Press Release SG/SM/10752.)
On Darfur, he said that, while answers were still pending from Khartoum on some issues, the decisions taken at the recent meeting in Addis could be described as a “turning point.”
In answer to a question on the new Human Rights Council and their current focus on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the Secretary-General said that he had hoped that the Council members would have started by doing a peer review and examine their own human rights records first. He added that, as it moves forward, he hopes the Council will look at other situations and not only concentrate on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
He also spoke on Iraq, non-proliferation and his own personal future.
He returned to New York later that day.